CW, what file to I need to restore/save if/when I need to restore my AutoCAD LT tool bars and their locations?
If I reinstalled AutoCAD LT I would have to set up custom tool bars and their locations again. Do you know which file/files keep this info?
Thank you
Leon.
Just a SWAG, but is their an .ini file? That's where the tool bar locations are usually stored in most applications.
Leon,
I'm not familiar (intimately) with ACAD "LT" - but am an architect that has been working with the 'full' AutoCAD since the '80s (and teach it, as well).
I can offer this info...
In full AutoCAD, these kinds of things are saved in the 'menu' files (there are 4 -- acad.mns, acad.mnc, acad.mnr & acad.mnl). The '.mns' file is the 'menu source' (text readable and editable), while the '.mnc' is a 'menu compiled'. Can be confusing -- but the best bet is to simply grab/backup all 4 files - or, for that matter, *any* '.mn_' file you find (there can be others).
Additionally, other setup information is in the 'acad.lsp' (Lisp) file, the 'acad.pgp' (Program Parameters) and the 'acad.pat' (Patterns) files.
These files are found in the "support" (sub)directory under the main ACAD installation.
All that said, ACAD LT is notable in one instance due to the fact that it is *not* as customizable as the full-blown ACAD, so I can't speak with authority as to how the above may or may not be implemented on your installation - because many of these files (and this is one of the reasons there are so many of them) deal specifically with all that customizability.
I would study your installation and see if Autodesk implemented things in a similar way -- if you see files of similar names (and, most notably, extensions), these would probably be what you are looking for. Several of these files are simply text files -- and can be readable in Notepad, so you should be able to open them and study them a bit.
Another approach may would be to look at your full ACAD LT installation and note the file DATE (reset Windows Explorer to show "details", so you can see the file date). From that, you should be able to determine files that have been modified since the original installation (like the 'acad.exe' application file).
Between the two, you should be able to correctly find those files that hold that customize information.
Alternately, Google on "AutoCAD LT backup" and you may find some hits.
Hope this helps...
-- john.
Yes, normally that is the file to look for but AutoCAD has several other files that keep up with settings. I usta know them but have lost the list.
Snip
Thank you John, those files look familiar from what I recall. I'll take a look for them and see what happens.
Leon
I just did a search and all 4 that you listed came up when looking for *.mn*
Thanks again.
Leon, I don't remember the specifics but the files you are looking for are the .MN types. There are three or four of them.
Thank you CW, that confirms what Jcatora mentioned and doing a search for those files revealed the aclt.* prefix that I recall.
I found 4 of them in 2 different locations. They appear to be duplicates of each other.
Thanks again.
Forget about it today.
Tomorrow, open ACAD first thing ... before using ANY OTHER PROGRAM.
Change each of those menus you are anxious to keep. Exit ACAD (forcing it to save the settings on the way out). Use the Windows 'search' function and look for files saved today. That should show you the smoking gun(s).
If you were using Linux, there would be a simpler, more immediate answer*. But you aren't so there isn't. Bill
*using "find' in the terminal and piping the results to "cp /some/path" would locate the needed files and move a copy of them to safekeeping all in the same command. You could end the command string with "ls /some/path" to see what had been copied.
LOL ... If he was using Linux he couldn't "simply" run it at all!
... at least not without a Windows api layer, like Wine, of some sort, which is a damn sight less "simple" to do than the few seconds it takes just doing a Search for the appropriate menu files under Windows.
try *.cfg
Somebody on a flying group recently called a Linux TiVO replacement "easy to use and free", even though you'd need a powerful computer with a huge drive (possibly dedicated), video capture card(s), time to learn it and configure it, and it still won't change the channel on a DirecTV receiver. Compared to a $5 a month TiVO fee with recorder provided simply for committing for another year to DirecTV.
Linux is becoming the computer "political religion" of the new millennium.
The bottom line is that my wife can use TiVO after 10 seconds of simple pointers. I don't even want to picture what it would be like teaching her to use a freeware program running a non-windows OS, on a computer sitting next to the TV, and she'd still have to be there to change the channel.
While I agree that it's a lot simpler just to get a Tivo, you have been misinformed on several points.
First, MythTV (the standard Linux PVR application) doesn't require a "powerful computer". It may have several years ago but not anymore, not if you're using a decent tuner board--a 1 GHz machine with one or two or three or four of the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR boards should be fine.
Second, how huge the drive needs to be depends on how much TV you want to store. Figure 2 gig an hour. The cheapest drive that Newegg sells will store about 20 hours, but you can double that for another five bucks.
Third, changing the channel on a DirecTV receiver using MythTV is well documented.
Fourth, while configuring it requires considerable expertise, actually _using_ it is not much different from using a Tivo.
Fifth, when you taught her to use that Tivo you were teaching her to use a program running on a Linux box on a computer sitting next to the TV.
Don't believe me? Google "Tivo hacking". That's all a Tivo is, a computer running Linux with a Tivo-developed front end instead of a freeware front end.
Now if you're talking an HDTivo it's a different story--right now there's no way to replicate the functionality of an HDTivo with a Linux box--there will be with a Windows box later this year but initially you'll have to buy the machine preassembled--whether the pieces to roll your won become available later is an open question, and whether that capability will ever be available with Myth is even more open.
That's why I know without asking that he isn't using Linux.
Searching for the files is easy ... figuring out what they are named is the challenging part. That's the part I was focusing on.
(trim irrelevant discussion of relative merits of Wine, Bosch, CrossOver Office and VMWare)
However, if the Windows box could be accessed by a Linux box across a network, then I think that the Linux find command could be used across the network. And I KNOW that the affected files could be pulled to the Linux box and held safe from accidental clobbering during the ACAD re-install. (There are lots of other safe places ... I sometimes send myself files in email. Gmail will hold them until I get the computer rebuilt to the point that I can access my email again.)
But the reality is that he's mostly familiar with ACAD, modestly familiar with Windows, probably has heard of Linux and has almost certainly never used a Unix type terminal for any 'for all the marbles' purposes. That's a fairly steep learning curve just to find a handful of files one time. For such limited use, it's not worth doing.
He could also skip the one day wait and just fiddle with the time stamp.
Tell the computer that it's tomorrow. Modify the files. Tell it that its two days from now and ask 'search' for yesterdays files. When you get them stashed, reset the clock to space time local. ;-)
DAMHIKT
Bill
Dragging them out of the search window will work.
Or you can do "xcopy /s /d:02-04-2007 *.* /some/path"
You can also do this using the Windows Scripting Host with whatever degree of granularity you might need, however the language there is not so widely known as for Unix--Windows people tend not to use it--I learned some of it a long time ago but never used it enough to remember it--there are both BASIC-derived and Java-derived scripting capabilities.
With Server 2K3 R2 and Vista Ultimate it should be possible to just run find and cp however on 2K3 the default installation is hosed to the point of frustration--I'd have to beat on it more than I have time for right now to get it to go--haven't tried it with Vista Ultimate yet.
Then there's Powershell which is slated to replace Windows Scripting Host at some point in the dim distant future--should be able to do it with any degree of precision with that. In the meantime both that and Services For Unix, which on 2K and XP provides more or less the same korn and c shells and utilities as on 2K3R2 and Vista Ultimate, are free downloads from Microsoft.
Compared to a $5 / month TiVO w/ free hardware, thanks for reinforcing my points.
Not sure if you found the files but there are 3 files that support the menu system in AutoCAD LT. The main one is the ACLT.mns file. This is the file that contains the code. When you open AutoCAD (either AutoCAD or LT) it compiles the other two (ACLT.mnu and ACLT.mnr) or it could be that only the .mnu file is compiled. But at any rate, you want the ACLT.mns file from the orignal program to go back tot he default.
Now these files are specific to AutoCAD LT series before the 2006 release. In 2006 they changed the menu system to customization files with extensions of CUI. Made it graphical input format so I find it harder to write the menu code straight in a text editor. Since I don't have an 06 series here, not sure where they put the cui files, but think they are located in the same spot as the mns files.
If you have 2002 or earlier, the menu files are located in your program files\autocad 2002\support directory. If you have 2005 LT they are located within you documents and settings folder buried down in the hidden folders of Application Data. Mty path is:
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD LT
2005\R10\enu\Support. Now these files usually get updated everytime you load the menu, so everytime you start the program. So using the What changed from before concept may not really work.Good luck
LOL, I remember years ago setting my computer date many months in advance before installing a piece of trial ware.
Anyway, the simpler method that I use if I do not know the file name is with a more powerful file manager. I make a change to the program and then immediately search for those files that have changed in the last 5 or less minutes.
Thank you Sir for the detailed explanation. My search results agree with your suggested locations. I appreciate your help.
If you need the mns file, let me know and I should be able to email you a copy. However, it will likley be modified to my very warped way of doing CAD :)
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